Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Nouri's many failures

Thug and prime minister of Iraq continues his assault on Anbar by killing civilians in Falluja. National Iraqi News Agency reports his shelling of Falluja's residential neighborhood have left 7 civilians dead today and seventeen injured. These are War Crimes.

In yesterday's snapshot, I called Jane Arraf out for her latest lies including that Moqtada's followers would vote for Nouri because Moqtada had retired from politics. I noted that we'd gone over all of this before (see the the February 18th snapshot) but that Moqtada's supporters would not vote for Nouri. In addition to those long standing reasons, I also pointed out that al-Sadr's candidates were running the election, they've always planned on that.

'Not so,' insists an e-mail from a US journalist, 'not so! Moqtada retired and the bloc with him.'

Uh, no. Does your outlet how deeply stupid you are?

Let's briefly review.

Moqtada al-Sadr announced his political retirement February 15th. February 18th, he delivered a speech -- CounterPunch posted the speech in full -- emphasizing his decision. February 26th, NINA noted the rumors that Moqtada left Iraq, "The sources noted in a press statement that Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr left
today's afternoon the city of Najaf heading to the Islamic Republic of
Iran in order to complete his religious studies and stay away from the
political scene as he officially announced for all Iraqis." Yet March 14th, Moqtada returned to Iraq.

Clearly, Moqtada has not stepped away from the political scene. Things might be easier for Nouri if he had.

Who was it that got Moqtada to return? Who should Nouri blame for that?

Background. Nouri's big mouth ended up tanking his own two-day
conference. For those who missed it, Nouri's fat mouth was flapping
last Saturday insulting many as he spoke to France24. France 24's Mark Perelman interviewed (link is text and video) Nouri for a half hour broadcast which aired Saturday.
In the interview, Nouri's well noted paranoia was on full display as
he repeatedly declared, in the very first two minutes, his alleged
'victory' over those attempting to turn Iraq and Syria into one country
("there are goals to create a one state," "create a state -- one part in
Syria and one part in Iraq"). He continued to gab and began accusing
other countries of supporting terrorism (he was supposedly going to
reveal proof of his gossip in the conference but, as usual, his fat
mouth made empty promises). He also insulted Moqtada.

That's right, Moqtada returned because Nouri attacked him on French television.

Moqtada's retirement was brief. While retired he went to Iran. His followers did not -- that includes the candidates who are running in the election. Are.

A “crisis” between current Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the
Sadrist movement will erupt following the legislative elections later
this month, according to comments by veteran Iraqi MP Hassan Al-Alawi on
Monday.Alawi, an independent MP who is running in the April 30 poll as a
member of the Sadrist Movement, said that a clash between the movement
and the prime minister’s State of Law Coalition over the shape of the
next government of Iraq was all but inevitable.Alawi told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The Sadrists have [taken] a
strong stance against a third term for Maliki regardless of the number
of seats they win or Maliki wins, and regardless of the pressure exerted
by foreign parties, especially the Iranians.”

Get it? Are. Alawi "is running in the April 30 poll as a member of the Sadrist Movement."

Jane Arraf's lied for years -- maybe not in her post-country briefings, but in her role as a reporter, yes.

Speaking of bad journalists, April 9th we were showing skepticism about the latest claims from Iraq's Minister of Oil that a solution to the unresolved oil issues between Baghdad and Erbil would "be reached within days." Very unlikely based on the past history and the current events but some reporters did run with it, treating the pronouncement as fact. It's not happening "within days." All Iraq News reports today:

MP, Mahmoud Othman, of the Kurdistani Alliance ruled out settling
the disputes between the Kurdistani Regional Government and the Central
Government.

He stated to AIN "I do not expect solving the problems between Baghdad and Erbil before the elections."

The Iraqi justice minister announced the closure of a
prison in West of the capital Baghdad, and evacuation of all inmates
over security concerns.

Hassan al-Shimmari said on Tuesday that 2400 inmates have been
transferred from the Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu
Ghraib prison and situated 32 kilometers (20 miles) West of Baghdad, to
prisons located in central and North provinces, press tv reported.

Nouri's shutting down the prison because he's such a failure at security, he can't even guarantee the protection of a Baghdad prison.

What a loser, what a failure. And yet he thinks he deserves a third term as prime minister.

About Me

We do not open attachments. Stop e-mailing them. Threats and abusive e-mail are not covered by any privacy rule. This isn't to the reporters at a certain paper (keep 'em coming, they are funny). This is for the likes of failed comics who think they can threaten via e-mails and then whine, "E-mails are supposed to be private." E-mail threats will be turned over to the FBI and they will be noted here with the names and anything I feel like quoting.
This also applies to anyone writing to complain about a friend of mine. That's not why the public account exists.